Toy railroad track switch



July 27, 1943. J. L. BONANNO TOY RAILROAD TRACK SWITCH Original Filed Dec.

INVENTOR JOSEPH L. BONANNO ATTO R N EY Patented July 27, 1943 7 2,325,471 rornslilsoan TRACK swrron' Joseph L. Bonanno, Maplewood, N. .L, assignor to. The Lionel Corporation, ew'Yc k, N L a c orat on N Yo origlnal application December 6. 1940, Serlal'No.

$68 ,896. "Divided and this 1-9451, Serial No.381',657

v screams. (Cuzco- 220) The present invention relates to toy railroad track switches, and is moreparticularly directed toward an improved signalling arrangement to indicate the position of the switch tongues 7 According to the present invention the signalling arrangement employs a single lamp energized from the power rail 'andan optical system which provides raypaths depending upon the position of theswitch tongue shifting'mchanisml 7 Other and furtherobjects will appear as the description proceeds. r The present application isa'divisienof my application Serial No. 368,806 filed December 6,

1940, now Patent No. 2397131 dated September 1 The accompanying drawingshows, for purposes of illustrating-the present'invention, an embodiment in which the invention may take form, it being understood that the drawingis illustrative of the invention rather than. limiting-the same. In the drawing: 7 J a Figure 1 is. a top plan. view of .aright-hand switch showing the switch tongue in the position to direct trains through: the straight line track; vvFigure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the broken line 22 of figure. 1 in the direc tion of the arrows;

Fi urefi is a. sectionalv view taken on the line 3 -3 of Figure l looking in the direction of the arrows; and .1 1' w Figures 4 and 5 are diagrammatic views illusirating the signal association with the track switch. v I.

. The molded piece of, insulation; to whichall the other parts 0:3 thdtrackrswitch section are secured, is, indicated; at ID; It. carries short lengthsof U-shaped shect..mctal wheel'bearing rails H and I2 forming what may be termed the main line wheel bearing rails of the track switch section. It also carries two pieces of straight rail l3 and M in line with the rail l I, apiece of straight rail'l5 inline with the rail I2, and three pieces of curved rail I6, 22 and I8 forming wheel bearing elements in a branch track which diverges from the branch formed by the rails l3, l4 and l5.

The rail elements ll, [2, l4, I5, 22 and I8 are interconnected with the other wheel bearing rails of the toy track layout when the toy track switch section is inserted into the track layout and are all at what is generally termed ground potential. The third rail elements are connected to the power source and form a power rail.

The insulating base I 0 supports a shiftable 1 noid coils 40 and 41k.v

applioationMarch 4,

switch tongue 25 pivotted: at 24*. The tongue has anin'sulati-ng bottom plate 28; shown more clear- 13. in- Figure 2, and two metal wheel bearing rails 2s and 38. Therails of? theshi-ftable switch tongue need not be electricallyconnected with any of theother rails. Adjacentht'he pivot 2'! the insulating base is provided with raised frog forming portions .31., '32 which. provide wheel bearing rail elements betwoenrthe switch tongue rail elements. 29 and? 391 and the fixed wheel hearing' elements l5 and ht The insulating "base It: is also provided with upwardly: extending elements 33 andr34; intermediate the rail elements H and i3 and the rail elements; tlaaind: 1-6, r..- spectively. a

Current is supplied from the; third rail through.

a connection 38 to the midpoint 3% oftwo; sole- Thacoi-l: 4.0; is connected through a wire 42; (and:Iself-disconnecting switches shown. indetailiin; the application above gized, but should the truck approach fromthe branch. against. whichjthe switchtongue is set.

the propercoil is energized to shift the tongue. The energizing of the call It will :attract the armature 6i to. the left... It has" a. lost motion .connection 62 with: shell: crank 83 pivoted at 64 .to' a sheet metal member 13; The bellzcrankis connected. with a slider 05 which has a lug 65 passing through arr-enlarged opening 61 in the insulating plate: 2& so-thotthe switch tongue can. be shifted from the position: indicated inv Figure 1 to place the rails of the switch tongue in position to receive the Wheels of the approaching vehicle and guide the train through the track switch section. The armature, the switch tongue and intermediate movable parts are held in the extreme position to which they have been shifted by an over-the-center spring 10. One end ll of the spring is secured to the bell crank 63, while the other end 12 is passed through a hole in the insulating base It.

A wire suitably connected to the third rail is also connected with the center contact 9| of a lamp socket 92. This socket carries a lamp bulb 93. The socket is secured to an L-shaped lever 94 pivoted on a screw 95 which extends in through 2 the end of the insulating base It. The long end 96 of the lever 94 has a snap connection with the I plate 60 so that the lamp may be grounded when in the position indicated in full lines in the drawing and so that the socket may be swung down, as indicated in dot-and-dash lines in Figure 2, for relamping. fRecipro'catcry tongue shifter 65 has an extension 91 which overlies the lamp bulb passing up through the opening 99in the insulating body and through this opening and the shutter opening 98 in the shifter 65. The light transmitter IE is clamped in a metal housing IOI by a screw IIlI'. The housing. IEII is secured in place by screw I62w entering the plate I3 and by screw I03 entering platefiil. The housing Illl is a metal castingshaped to simulate the signal head of a railroad track switch and has three openings I04, I05 and I06 opposite the lens elements I01, I08 and IE9 of the light transmitter I00. The light my I ID from the. lamp 93, passing to the left. of the extension 91 of the shifter 65, is intercepted by a surface 'I I I on the bottom of the light transmitter I0!) and passes to an upper totally reflecting rear surface I i2, where it is reflected and passes out through the lens-like surface I01, as indicated at II3. JRays such as H3 will be projected allthe time that. the toy track switch is connectedin circuit. v

A light ray, such .as 'I I4 in Figure 5, passing through the shutter opening 93 will fall on a surface II5 deflected upwardly, as indicated at H6, reflected by a rear'surface Ill and projected out through the lens area I09, as indicated at II8. When the shifter 65 is moved to the dot-and-dash line position of Figure5, the light ray H4 is intercepted and light ray, such as'I l9 Figure 4, falls on the lower surface I20 of the light transmitter, passes up .to the reflecting surface I2I and is projected out through the lens area I I8 as indicated at I22. v

The grounded rail I5'is connected through a strap TI, binding .post 80 and wire 83 with two lamps R and- G and switcharm .66 of a'remote controller C.; The lamp R is.connected through wire 84, binding posts BI, and strap18 with rail I3, while lamp'G is connected through wire 85, binding post 82 and strap"!!! with rail I6. Only one lamp will burn at a time and the short circuiting of this lamp by the switch 86 will energize the corresponding solenoid coil as or 4| and shift the switch tongue.

' of the many forms.

It will thus be seen that the shifting of the switch tongue, whether by the approach of a train on a branch track against which the switch has been set, or by the remote controller C, or manually by merely shifting the switch tongue itself, will bring about a change in the light signal sent out by the light transmitter, and the operator can see by looking at the lights which setting is made for the track switch and can thus readily control the switch from a remote point to direct trains as desired from the main track into one or the other of the branch tracks.

It is obvious that the invention may be embodied in many forms and constructions within the scope of the claims and I wish it to be understood that the particular form shown is but one Various modifications and changes being possible, I do not otherwise limit myself in any way with respect thereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A toy unitary railroad track switch having a base, main and branch tracks carried by the base, a shiftable switch tongue carried by the base for guiding trains through either branch track, and means for indicating the position of the switch tongue comprising a lamp socket supported from the base, a lamp bulb therein having a light source, a transparent element opposite the source and having three light incident faces, three surfaces adapted toproduce total reflection of rays received through the corresponding incident faces and three light emergent areas opposite the respective reflecting surfaces thereby forming three light paths, and a movable shutter having two positionsin'one of which it cuts off passage of light from the source through one of the light paths, and in the otherof which it cuts 01f passage of light in another of the light paths.

2. A toy railroad track switch such as claimed in claim 1, havingan opaque housing about the transparent element provided with three holes opposite the light emergent areas.

3. A unitary toy railroad track switch having a base main and branchtracks carried by the base, a shiftable switch tongue carried by the base for guiding trains through either branch track, and means for indicating the position of the switch tongue comprising a light source below an opening in the base, a unitary light transmitter above the opening and including two lower light incident surfaces and two totally reflecting prisms arranged-side by side to provide independent light transmitting paths from said source to two light emitting surfaces, a housing about the light transmitter and having openings opposite the light emitting surfaces, and a shutter movable with the switch tongue for selecting one s or the other of lower light incident surfaces.

JOSEPH L. BONANNO. 

